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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22636978">THE GREEN IN YOUR EYES</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgnesClementine/pseuds/AgnesClementine'>AgnesClementine</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>9-1-1 (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Jealous Eddie Diaz, M/M, but - Freeform, honestly, the ending is way too fluffy for a fic tagged with 'jealous' anything, what can you do</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 10:48:31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,473</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22636978</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgnesClementine/pseuds/AgnesClementine</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Eddie doesn't feel good about being jealous- that doesn't mean that he isn't.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>38</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>675</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>THE GREEN IN YOUR EYES</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I did not intend to make this as soft as it turned out to be but- *shrug" </p>
<p>Let me know what you think and enjoy! :)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>There is a small crowd of on-lookers still watching and commenting between themselves on the scene even after Chim and Hen drove off towards the hospital. The Sun beats down on them harshly, and Eddie wipes the sweat from his forehead with his forearm, hoping that the last hour and half of their shift will go by peacefully. He’s feeling hot and sticky and he can’t wait to crash for a few hours while Carla watches Christopher.</p>
<p>“Every year I think I’m getting used to the heat and every year I am proven wrong,” Buck tells him, helping him put away the equipment. He’s fairly light-skinned for someone who lives in California where it’s sunny all the time and now his nose and cheeks are tinged pink. He’s ridiculously blue-eyed and strawberry blond and absolutely beautiful.</p>
<p>“Does that really surprise you?” Eddie asks him teasingly.</p>
<p>Buck’s nose wrinkles in mock offense and he’s about to respond when a hand taps him lightly on the shoulder.</p>
<p>He turns, startled, and Eddie notices the girl for the first time. Light hair, nice tan, sparkling eyes. Her T-shirt rides up just enough to show a sliver of tanned skin on her stomach, material tight over her chest, and her shorts are, well, definitely short. She’s holding herself with impressive confidence.</p>
<p>Buck looks at her with a confused expression, eyes firmly pinned on her face.</p>
<p>She plasters a dazzling smile on her face, says, “Hi,” with a coy look trained on Buck- and Eddie feels a scowl pull at his features.</p>
<p>“What you did was so brave,” she says, standing way too close.</p>
<p>Buck leans back against the firetruck to put some distance between them, makes a small, aborted gesture with his hand towards the back of his neck, then says dubiously, “Thanks, but, uh, I haven’t really done anything.”</p>
<p>Which is true. Hen and Chim started working on the man as soon as they arrived at the scene while Buck just helped them get him out of his car and Eddie and Bobby worked on crowd control. Eddie would never try to sell Buck short, isn’t trying to do so now, but if anything, this was Hen and Chim’s moment of glory.</p>
<p>The girl tosses a strand of her hair over her shoulder and leans in, says, “Still. It was totally hot.”</p>
<p>And Buck reddens in a way that has nothing to do with today’s heat. His whole face turns faintly crimson, all the way to the tips of his ears- and that would be a lovely thing to see if the cause for it was pretty much anything else but this girl.</p>
<p>Eddie wants to shove himself between them, create a barrier between her and Buck, but that would be weird. It would be overstepping the boundaries, <em>hell</em>, it would be stomping all over them, so he settles on glowering quietly, unnoticed or ignored.</p>
<p>“Um,” Buck says. He doesn’t manage anything else because the girl cuts in with, “Let’s go on a date.”</p>
<p><em>How about you don’t</em>, Eddie wants to say but bites down on the words before he can cause some irreparable damage.</p>
<p>Buck chuckles good-naturedly, and he’s not looking at Eddie but his body gravitates towards him nonetheless. “I’m sorry, but I’m not looking for anything right now,” he tells her.</p>
<p>And when it looks like she’s gonna persist, Eddie takes the opportunity to take a step closer to Buck, finally catching her attention. Her eyes slide up his body and then she blinks, taken aback by the glare he’s giving her.</p>
<p>She flickers a glance at Buck once more, and then she hums noncommittally, disappointment on her face as she turns and walks away.</p>
<p>“Whew,” Buck breathes out, sagging against the truck. His arm absently brushes Eddie’s and Eddie forgets all about the girl.</p>
<ul>
<li>●●●●</li>
</ul>
<p>Buck has just started compressions on the guy when the latter splutters back into the land of the living and upchucks a lungful of water when Eddie helps him roll to the side. Buck throws him a bewildered look from where he landed on his ass trying to scramble off the guy as fast as possible and Eddie returns it. He had the mask and the balloon ready and this wasn’t exactly what he expected would happen this soon.</p>
<p>But then again, weirder things have happened.</p>
<p>“What happened?” The guy asks once he’s done coughing, looking at Eddie upside down with subtle appreciation.</p>
<p>“You almost drowned in your pool, man,” Eddie tells him, aware of his raised eyebrows.</p>
<p>He doesn’t know if the guy was trying to save water or he misjudged the amount of it inside the pool but he ended up diving in head-first and got close and personal with the bottom. He was lucky his friends were there to call 911.</p>
<p>“Yeah, maybe try filling it up all the way next time,” Buck adds.</p>
<p>The guy’s head whips to face him and his eyes definitely spark up as they travel over Buck sitting cross-legged near him.</p>
<p>“Damn, if you wanna join me, sure,” he says.</p>
<p>There’s a snicker from one of his friends in the background but Eddie gets a strong urge to just…<em>push </em>him back into the pool.</p>
<p>As usual, Buck colors pink and red. But unlike with the girl from that hell-day, he laughs lightly and honestly.</p>
<p>Eddie’s eyebrows furrow and he focuses his eyes on the chipped tile at the edge of the pool before looking up and accidentally catching Hen’s amused expression. She looks moments away from cracking up and Eddie’s chest flares up with part embarrassment and part irritation.</p>
<p>“Sorry, ah, water’s not really my thing,” Buck responds, clearing his throat. Eddie tears his eyes from Hen, momentarily forgetting about his own feelings, to check on Buck. He’s not suddenly pale and his eyes are bright and present, meeting Eddie’s for a second, and it eases the familiar iron bands around his chest.</p>
<p>The guy glances between them and then sighs sadly. “Figures, cute ones are always straight. Or taken.”</p>
<p>
  <em>Eddie fucking wishes.</em>
</p>
<ul>
<li>●●●●</li>
</ul>
<p>They are both slumped on Buck’s couch, knees and shoulders touching, TV droning on quietly, when the doorbell rings. Buck jerks from his half-asleep state, sucking in air and digging his palms against his eyes.</p>
<p>“Food,” he mutters, then zombies his way off the couch.</p>
<p>Eddie watches him go, shuffling off in socks, sweatpants that he’s pretty sure are his and the shirt he wore to work today because he was too tired to change anything but his jeans. The back of his head is sporting a few cowlicks that he’s unaware of from rubbing his head against the back of the couch and Eddie’s shoulder- but Eddie’s not gonna be the one to inform him about them.</p>
<p>He’s content to just melt into the cushions until Buck brings over the take out, his limbs feeling heavy, but Buck is taking unusually long.</p>
<p>It’s unlikely- impossible- that Eddie wouldn’t hear him fainting or calling for help or something if something bad has happened, but as the thought forms in his head, he leaps off the couch and hurries to the front door.</p>
<p>Where he finds Buck holding onto two pizza boxes and talking to a girl he’s pretty sure he’s seen in the hallway a few times. She’s probably one of the neighbors.</p>
<p>She says something and Buck laughs, shoulders jumping. It makes something twist in Eddie’s stomach in an uncomfortable, heated way, clogging up his throat.</p>
<p>Eddie knows he probably looks a bit more on homicidal side than usual, but he still walks over without a falter in his step until the girl has a clear view of him over Buck’s shoulder. She sees him and the easy, awed look in her eyes shut down. She gives him an appraising glance- maybe wondering if he’s a serial killer or something- and then excuses herself quickly.</p>
<p>“Huh,” Buck says in the face of her sudden departure, turning to face Eddie and closing the door with his foot, “I really need to fix my door, the delivery keeps mixing up our addresses.”</p>
<p>He gives Eddie a long look that makes Eddie wonder if all the glaring lately made his face stick like that. Then he looks down at the boxes in his hands and just says, “Man, I don’t know if I’m more hungry or tired.”</p>
<p>They trot back to the couch and make a compromise in form of demolishing one of the pizzas they ordered and then falling asleep while leaning against each other.</p>
<ul>
<li>●●●●</li>
</ul>
<p>The music is loud and upbeat, and the place itself is not sleazy in the slightest but it’s still not somewhere Eddie would go on his own initiative. He’s not exactly sure who suggested it, probably Chim and Maddie seeing how they seem familiar enough with the environment and are absolutely going crazy on the dance floor. For the reason of “not wanting to be mentally scarred any more”, Buck is very resolutely not going or looking anywhere near the dance floor.</p>
<p>Eddie wants to say he’s providing him company- but if he’s being honest, at least with himself, he’s just trying to wordlessly chase off the guy who is (successfully) chatting Buck up. Right next to him. And it sucks because, well. Eddie really doesn’t have a valid reason for it.</p>
<p>He’s always been a little…protective, of sorts. And if he wants to fool himself, he can say that he’s just trying to protect Buck. Protect him from the pushy girl, or that idiot, or the meek neighbor who couldn’t stomach his job. But Buck is a grown man. He doesn’t need Eddie to protect him; or rather, he doesn’t need Eddie to put him in bubble wrap and handle him with kiddie gloves because he’s capable and smart and fine, maybe a bit too much of a romantic for his own good- but he doesn’t need Eddie acting like an overprotective parent.</p>
<p>So the truth is- Eddie is jealous. He’s always been; more than anything, hates sharing people he loves. It never fails to make him feel awful like people are possessions he can just collect. But Buck is like some treasure, a piece of gold or a diamond in his hands that he’s lucky enough to hold and-</p>
<p>He knows that doesn’t justify it. Nothing justifies the possessiveness that flares up inside him so he keeps it in. He can allow himself his emotions; he can’t control them but he can control his response and reactions to them.</p>
<p>And so he doesn’t shove the guy away like he wants to. He doesn’t get in his face and tell him to back off. He doesn’t drape his arm around Buck’s shoulders or around his waist like he really, really wants to.</p>
<p>He just glares.</p>
<p>Buck is relaxed and warm next to him, forced into contact by the crowd around them. Streaming lights reflect off the tiny grains of glitter on his cheek, from when Maddie brushed their cheeks together during a hug and left behind a faint streak of highlighter. Perspiration collects in the hollow of his throat, skin glistening as he throws his head back to laugh at something Eddie didn’t catch. And Eddie aches with the desire to touch.</p>
<p>The guy is not paying him any mind, tall and stocky and handsome, and Eddie hates him.</p>
<p>Hates himself- a little bit- for feeling that way.</p>
<ul>
<li>●●●●</li>
</ul>
<p>Buck catches on- to what, Eddie is not sure yet, but he does. They are driving home from work a few days back, and Buck tunes into his sour mood like he’s got radar built-in. Eddie tried not to let it get to him- <em>acknowledge your emotions but don’t act on them because it’s not your place</em>- he tried not acting any different. But maybe he hasn’t been hiding it as well as he thought he did.</p>
<p>“So. You wanna tell me what’s going on?” Buck asks shortly after they’ve left the station.</p>
<p>There are no words good enough to explain it and not make him look like a complete asshole so he says, “I’m just going through something. It’s fine.”</p>
<p>He sees Buck shift in the corner of his eye. “Is it me?”</p>
<p>“What?” He looks over at him. “No. Why?”</p>
<p>“You just- get this look. When I’m around. Like you want to strangle someone.”</p>
<p>Eddie sighs. “I don’t. It’s not you. I promise.”</p>
<p>“Then it’s other people around me,” Buck states.</p>
<p>Eddie is only surprised because he didn’t think Buck was paying so much attention to him when they are not alone.</p>
<p>“I’m sorry,” he finds himself asking, sure that Buck has connected the dots by now, “it’s not- I’m working on it, I promise,” he says even though he’s not working on it at all. Just putting it aside until it goes away on its own.</p>
<p>“Man, just talk to me,” Buck begs. “It doesn’t even have to be a real conversation, just give me some crumbs. Something to work with so I know what’s wrong and how to fix it.”</p>
<p>And, God-</p>
<p>“God, Buck, you don’t have to fix anything. It’s not your fault I’m a jealous jackass,” he says quickly and genuinely when they stop at the red light. His heartbeat is so loud he almost misses Buck’s, “You’re jealous?”</p>
<p>He flexes his fingers on the wheel, rolls his shoulders like that’s gonna help him disperse the discomfort and shame. “Yeah.”</p>
<p>“Why?” Buck looks confused beyond comprehension.</p>
<p>Eddie groans, “I’m- I’m just possessive. And I know it’ shitty and dumb. And I’m sorry, I have no say in who you can like or date and- I promise I’ll work on it.”</p>
<p>He says it in a rush, desperate to get out the important things first, and gets startled by a snort of laughter from Buck.</p>
<p>“I’m sorry,” he tells Eddie, expression way more light and gentle than Eddie expected, “you have no say in who I can like or date- oh my God, Eddie, wha- <em>what?</em>” He asks through snickers.</p>
<p>Eddie feels heat flood his face.</p>
<p>“God, Eds, I never said yes. I don’t- I don’t want to date any of those people,” Buck continues, gesturing with his hand like “those people” encompasses just about everyone and anyone outside this car and-</p>
<p>Oh. <em>Oh.</em></p>
<p>His heart stutters.</p>
<p>Buck grins easily, “There we are.”</p>
<p>In some other scenario, where they’re both not buckled up and sitting at an intersection, Eddie would’ve kissed him. Pull him in until there’s no air between them and his hands can roam and touch freely- but right now, he’s content to let Buck tangle their fingers together, looking almost bashful and definitely giddy.</p>
<p>“By the way,” Buck says as the light turns green, “I don’t mind a bit of jealousy every now and again. Just as long as you know I’m all yours.”</p>
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